Ron has a good idea if the club knows about the equipment. Unfortunately,
many ham clubs are comprised of appliance operators who do not know the
value nor care about the older stuff.

One problem I have found is that a few hams have taken the time to write
down values of equipment. But, if they do not know what they are doing, it
can be a giant disappointment. I have seen in one case where an elderly ham
got some prices from friends, who got it off eBay. The problem was that his
stuff had sat in a moist garage and was rusty, while the pieces were valued
at what a pristine and restored piece had sold for. If you are going to
price it, make sure it is realistic values.

Not long ago, I recall someone purchased a beautiful SX-88 on eBay for about
$5,000. The purchaser wanted one and could afford it. Unfortunately,
people see that and assume their ordinary and unrestored SX-88 is worth
$5,000. I bought an SX-88 that had broken dials, rusty case and neede a lot
of TLC. It was on the other end of the spectrum. If I did not spend so
much time on the internet, I could have it restored by now.

I am building a vacation home for the express purpose of sneaking a personal
radio museum next to it. My plan is to store each radio, with all of the
accessories and manuals together in their appropriate display area. One of
the big problems I have when assisting in estates is finding power supplies,
manuals, microphones and other items. Cannot tell you how many rotators I
have sold without control boxes, because the family threw away the control
box.

Another sad story that still haunts me is when the father of a friend died
with his ham gear in the basement. I valued it for estate tax purposes and
sold much of it. However, there were 3 items I wanted to buy and so I left
them with my friend and told him I would determine a fair price and buy
them. He wanted to give them to me. They were an Elmac AF-67, new in the
box, and two new gold Vibroplexes. I spent about a week deternining how
much they were worth and went back to buy them. Alas, all three had been
tossed in the dumpster.

Now, I take the stuff first and argue about price later.

73, Colin K7FM

Colin K7FM